Mussolini admirer set to get key EU post

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi appears headed for victory in a confrontation with his EU partners over his appointment to a key panel of a man who once called Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini ‘‘the greatest statesman’’ of the 20th century.

Berlusconi, attending his first Brussels meeting since he made himself foreign minister as well as premier, had insisted his Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini represent Italy on a convention to prepare a far-reaching reform of the EU.